Pete Wedderburn

Pete Wedderburn qualified as a vet twenty-five years ago, and now spends half his working life writing newspaper columns. He lives in Ireland with his wife, two daughters and a menagerie of dogs, cats, poultry and other furry and feathered companions. Pete answers readers' queries about their pets' health in his video Q&A – he is also on Twitter as @petethevet and has a Facebook Fan Page.

The birth and death of whales

There’s something about whales that’s appealing: they give an impression of giant, calm, benign intelligence. They're hitting the headlines in the southern hemisphere today, for both good and bad reasons.
The first story is a positive one. The birth of a Southern Right Wale in the Derwent Estuary, off the coast of Hobart in Tasmania, has caused immense local excitement. In the early 1800’s, Tasmanian waters were key calving grounds for the whale populations of the surrounding oceans. Commercial whaling put an end to this, with Southern Right Whales being hunted to virtual extinction in the area. It’s only in recent decades that the whales have begun to be seen around Hobart again. The birth of the whale calf – weighing four tonnes, and measuring seven metres long – is highly significant, leading local enthusiasts to hope that the estuary could again become a key calving area for whales.
The second whale saga is a sad one. Fifty eight Pilot Whales have been stranded on a beach in a remote area at the northern end of the North Island of New Zealand. Forty three of the whales have died; efforts are continuing to refloat the remaining fifteen that are still alive.
I’ve been involved in a rescue attempt to refloat a single stranded whale, and there’s nothing easy about it. The immense bulk of a whale’s body may be buoyant and nimble in deep water, but on dry land, it’s difficult to move it without causing physical damage to sensitive living tissue. While you’re trying to help, you’re very aware of the large, intelligent eye of the stranded creature, helplessly observing you. Sometimes the whales are too badly injured to survive, and euthanasia may be the only answer, but even this is not always simple. Whales don’t have easily accessible veins to allow the rapid injection of a lethal dose of drugs.
Experts still don’t understand the reasons for mass whale strandings, but it’s thought to relate to the tendency for whales to cluster around an individual in distress. This supportive tactic may work well in deep waters, but in shallow areas, it’s disastrous. In 2007, 101 pilot whales were stranded on the same beach in New Zealand, so perhaps there’s something treacherous about local water conditions from a whale perspective.
I'll be watching for the outcomes of both of these whale stories: I'll let you know in due course what happens to the young calf in Tasmania, as well as to those fifteen survivors on that New Zealand beach.